Nordic FAs demand Infantino opens doors to review of FIFA’s governance and his leadership

August 24 – Nordic football has lost confidence in FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and is demanding an independent review of the world governing body’s governance. 

Echoing the UEFA, Concacaf and AFC line, the football associations from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands have positioned themselves firmly against the embattled Infantino, issuing a joint statement on Sunday, saying that they have “serious concerns about the governance and high-level decision-making of the organisation.” 

The statement adds to the growing calls for Infantino to stand down. The FIFA boss may have annulled plans to sell a minority stake in the World Cup to a private equity funded new company, but UEFA, the AFC and Concacaf issued a joint statement, expressing a loss of confidence in his leadership. 

“We expect that FIFA provides binding assurances that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” said the Nordic associations. “We also support the demand put forward by AFC, Concacaf and UEFA, for a fully third-party review of the events surrounding the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal.”

Norwegian FA boss Lise Klaveness has long led the charge over good governance, including backing an ethics complaint against Infantino at FIFA and speaking out after the Balogun saga during the World Cup, but often the Nordic associations, usually due to the Danish FA, DBU, and its president Jesper Moller, have failed to stand united. The annual meeting in Finland however prompted a show and statement of togetherness. 

Later this week, European FAs are expected to meet in Monaco on the eve of the UEFA club draws.  

The statement concluded: “We also call for FIFA to initiate a comprehensive independent review of whether FIFA’s governance framework provides the independence, checks and balances, transparency and accountability, that were intended when FIFA adopted its reform programme in 2016.”

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